Friday, January 24, 2014

When
the Sons of Liberty dumped the tea into Boston Harbor in 1773; it was not just
in protest of taxation, but also a protest of the monopoly power and corruption
between the government and a huge corporation: the East Indies Company.

People
should be represented, not just the big money. The big money drowns out the
voices of almost all Americans. Most of us now have taxation without
representation, government where we are not represented. Local control will
continue to disappear, and small business put more and more at a competitive
disadvantage. In our constitutional republic, the elected official’s duty is to
work for and represent the people: all the people, not just the highest
bidders.

If
money is free speech and political contributions cannot be limited, how can we
regulate bribery, undue influence or conflicts of interest? We the People and
the states have lost the power and the ability to regulate the corruption by
the money in our government through a Supreme Court exceeding its authority. On
January 21st, 2010; the US
Supreme Court decided the Citizen’s United v. Federal Election Commission
bringing together over 100 years of legal decisions and inventing new powers
for artificial entities such as corporations and unions.

People
came together to form government. Government, with our powers creates corporate
charters, incorporated unions, and other artificial entities. The powers and
privileges of artificial entities need to be spelled out legislatively they are
not unalienable rights as listed in the Constitution.
Money is given in expectation of action by elected officials. If an elected
official does not deliver, they will see the money change direction and support
a challenger that will replace them. We each have a voice, and that voice
should not be made more powerful with each additional dollar we spend. 99.9% of
us contribute $200 or less to candidates, political action committees (PACs),
and parties. No one should own our elected officials. They need to serve all of
in mind, not just the interests of a few powerful and connected individuals.

The“Money
Out, Voters In” Wisconsin Coalition and Move To Amend is pushing for ballot
question for all of the people of Wisconsin:

Do you agree that... “Only human beings—not corporations, unions, nonprofit
organizations, or similar associations—are endowed with constitutional rights,
and Money is not speech, and therefore limiting political contributions and
spending is not equivalent to restricting political speech?"

The current "shotgun” approach of leading citizens of individual states to seek the same legal precedents, all at the same time, only dilutes our combined energies. As we are already of like mind, it is possible to pick any ONE state to be the first to be the model on which all our inter-state resources can be focused. Once passing legislation in the first state, do each of the others by most likely. After the first state is “converted” and as momentum builds, states can be worked on “in parallel,” in increasing numbers, rather than sequentially. Doing so will make more efficient use of community resources, achieve initial and subsequent successes earlier and with less effort, and allow for more effective capture of, and adaptation to, lessons learned. Once we get 2/3rds, a Constitutional amendment will be in reach. This is the age old bundled vs single shafts of arrows tactic and “dominos” strategy. (Sent to amendment@citizen.org. Please share to related.)